WASHINGTON — Four military chiefs said today the implementation and training of the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was going better than expected and certification could be finished by the end of the summer.

Admiral Gary Roughead, chief of Naval Operations, said he believes there will be more talented “great young sailors serving who wouldn’t be able to serve” before because they were gay. General James Amos, U.S. Marine Corps Commandant, told the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Service Committee that there has been “no recalcitrant” push back.

“I’m looking for specifically for issues coming out of the Tier II and Tier III training and to be honest with you, Chairman, we’ve not seen it,” Amos said.

Rep. Mike Coffman, an Arapahoe County Republican and Marine who served in Iraq, doesn’t believe the vast majority of military jobs would be negatively affected by the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

He said Thursday that the bulk of military service jobs bear similarities to civilian jobs and that working next to someone who is openly gay would make little difference.

But in combat, “where we’re taking the casualties right now, certainly in Afghanistan,” he worries that DADT was shoved through quickly and without a lot of combat troop-level approval.

He thinks the survey the military did on the repeal’s acceptability — 70 percent of service members said it would either have a positive effect or no effect — is flawed because of its low response rate among combat troops.

“I distrust the process and the way it’s going. I think they could have been more professional about doing it. If it’s going to be a political decision, then make it a political decision and vote it up or down,” Coffman said.

The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal certification could take place as early as this summer, gay rights advocates said Thursday. Certification is in the hands of President Obama, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Secretary.

“Implementation of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal is being accomplished carefully, methodically and without disruption,” said Michael Cole-Schwartz, of the Human Rights Campaign, “Unfortunately the House Republican majority used the hearing as an opportunity to grind a political axe which does nothing to facilitate implementation or make our country safer.”